The heads of most of the world's airline associations are calling upon all governments and aviation authorities to redouble efforts to modernise air traffic control (ATC) systems across the globe.
Meeting in Washington DC this week, industry leaders representing carriers from North, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region said alarming increases in ATC delays, particularly in Europe and the USA, reflect a tremendous disservice to aviation consumers and present a serious long-term threat to the aviation industry.
However, they emphasise that efforts to improve ATC performance must not become an excuse to add more taxes and charges.
Suffer
The US Air Transport Association (ATA) quotes the delegates as saying: "The airline industry - while it has rapidly matured as a means of mass transportation - continues to suffer from the outdated perception that it is a wealthy, elite sector which can absorb endlessly creative policies to excessively tax and charge consumers."
Although attendees at the meeting agree airlines and consumers expect to pay for the services they require and use, they note that both groups do not "...accept as logical, or fair, unreasonable rates of taxation by governments or the excessive charges too often imposed by monopoly service providers."
Furthermore, the airline group warns that "attempts to manipulate fees to try to limit demand for air traffic management service to the currently inadequate level of service available is not an acceptable alternative to the provision of sufficient capacity to meet public demand."
As a result of the conference, all of the airline associations have pledged to work together - on behalf of their customers - to counteract what the ATA refers to as "the very serious trend toward escalating taxes and charges."
Source: Flight Daily News
